Starting this semester, Burlingame administration has begun to implement a new tardy policy. Currently, the new policy is in a tentative state and may be subject to change by the administration should they feel that change is necessary.

The new policy is stricter than previous policies. If, in a six week grading period, a student receives five unexcused tardies or more for one of their classes, the student receives a referral, where they will meet with administration who will assign an appropriate punishment, usually in the form of a detention. With eight tardies, the student is required to attend Saturday school. The administration has also pushed teachers to be more persistent in marking tardies for students who are late to class and teachers will start to have conversations with their students about why they are late if they receive around three or four tardies in their class. The new policy has seen criticism from some students who view it as too strict.

“Most students are late to their first class anyways, and only allowing five tardies until they get a referral and detention is quite strict,” senior Joey Zhang said. “I liked last semester’s tardy system more because it allowed more leniency to be late to my first class of the day.”

Additionally, the new policy has imposed more severe consequences with a cut, which is a tardy of 30 minutes or more, with three cuts resulting in a detention, and five cuts requiring a student to attend Saturday school. Compared to five tardies equalling a detention and eight tardies equalling a Saturday school, some students feel that there is a lack of distinction made between tardies and cuts, and their respective punishments.

“It doesn’t make sense that cutting class and being even 30 seconds late are pretty much the same [in terms of their consequences].” senior Andrew Cummings said.

However, even critics of the new tardy policy believe in its effectiveness.

“This tardy system will help with the tardies, particularly first period tardies,” Zhang said.